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Published on May 20th, 2024 | by Editor

J Class: The “Queen” is back

Published on May 20th, 2024 by Editor -->

The 1930s America’s Cup challenger Shamrock V – also known as “The Queen of the J Class” – was relaunched on May 20 at Saxon Wharf in Southampton, UK. This follows the most comprehensive restoration and rebuild in her 94-year history.

The 36.4-metre sailing yacht sustained significant structural damage and was laid up ashore while racing at the America’s Cup in 2017. Following a change of owner and a strip down “literally to the last bolt”, the sailing yacht has been restored to concurs condition after seven years.

The yacht hit the water at Camper & Nicholsons’ Gosport shipyard in 1930 as the first ever J Class, commissioned by Sir Thomas Lipton as his fifth and final challenge for the America’s Cup. She remains the only one built in wood and the only one to have never fallen into dereliction since her launch – the other two remaining members of the J Class fleet, the 38.5-metre Velsheda and the 39.6-metre Endeavour, had to be reconstructed entirely. – Full report

Tags: J Class , Shamrock

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NAVIGATOR Tops Russia J/70 Sailing League Act I

on April 2, 2018

For the start of the 2018 Russian National J/70 Sailing League, 26 teams from across the country (from Vladivostok to St Petersburg) participated in the choppy waters of the Black Sea off the seaside resort of Sochi. These are the teams that began their journey in the fourth full season of the League. Participating in the first regatta in Sochi were LORD OF THE SAIL- ASIA (Sergei Musikhin), NAVIGATOR Sailing Team (Igor Rytov), LORD OF THE SAIL- EUROPE (Pavel Kuznetsov), PIRogovo (Yuri Morozov), Konakovo River Club (Mark Kagansky), ARTTUBE RUS1 (Valeriya Kovalenko), St. Petersburg Yacht Club Yachting Academy (Jan Chekh), Rocknrolla Sailing Team / RUS76 (Alisa Kirilyuk), Leviathan (Maxim Titarenko), X-Fit (Vladimir Silkin), DC TEAM (Denis Cherevatenko), Sochi-South Sport FPS (Alexander Mazurin), Region-23 (Evgeny Nikiforov), NAVIGATOR Trem (Alexandra Peterson), Parma- (Vitaly Tarakanov), USC (Dmitry Zhayvoronok), ResursKomplekt (Andrey Nikolaev), Skolkovo Sailing Team (Andrey Davydyuk), KOMATEK (Vyacheslav Frolov) , RUS7 (Anatoly Arnautov), East-West (Evgeny Anishev), Imperial Yacht Club (Artem Kuznetsov), CSKA Moscow (Alexander Mikhaylik), QPRO Sailing Team (Zoran Paunovich), Black Sea Sailing Team (Inal Berbekov) and Calipso (Vladimir Shishkin). Friday: Eight races were held with 18 teams sailing at least three races and seven teams sailed two. Valeriya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1 team had three wins in three races for just 3 points total. Kovalenko’s crew included Igor Ignatenko, Igor Lisovenko and Alexander Bozhko, all from the Taganrog (Moscow) region. Sitting in second place after sailing two races was Igor Rytov’s NAVIGATOR Sailing Team. Then, just behind them was Alexander Mikhaylik’s CSKA Moscow Team in third with 5 points. The winners on Friday included six teams: SAIL LORD-ASIA, NAVIGATOR Sailing Team, RUS7 (Anatoly Arnautov), CSKA Moscow, KOMATEK (Vyacheslav Frolov) and ARTTUBE RUS 1. Saturday: Despite the difficult weather that included rain and a very shifty wind, the Race Committee and PRO managed to conduct 14 races, for a total of 22 races sailed. Again, there were differences in the number of races each team sailed due to the boat rotations and number of racers. It was Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1 that continued to lead the regatta with 8 races sailed and 21 points total. Just behind was a tie on points between Rytov’s NAVIGATOR Sailing Team and Yachting Academy of St. Petersburg’s Anna Basalkina, both with 7 races and 20 points each. As a result, the racing was so tight that these three teams all had the chances of winning and getting on the podium. Sunday Finale: After three days, 32 races were held. Five teams had 10 races, 14 teams had 11, and seven teams had 12 races. For teams that missed one race, they were added the average value of points scored in their previous races. Teams that had 12 races in the standings had their last race discarded. As a result, the NAVIGATOR Sailing Team that consisted of Igor Rytov, Anton Sergeev, Konstantin Besputin and Vyacheslav Martynov won over Valeriya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE RUS 1. After winning four races, Kovalenko’s team counted an 8th place in one of the Sunday races, knocking them out of contention for the lead to have to settle for the silver. Her team lost by 1.2 points. Taking the bronze was the LORD OF THE SAIL- EUROPE team sailed by Pavel Kuznetsov, Evgeny Neugodnikov, Vyacheslav Ermolenko and Yuri Popov. The team from Ekaterinburg had good results on the final day to climb onto the podium ahead of their rivals. Rounding out the top five were the Konakovo River Club (Mark Kagansky) in fourth place and the Sailing Academy of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (Anna Basalkina) in fifth position. For more Russian J/70 National Sailing League information, visit  https://rusyf.ru/ .

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If it’s Sunday, they’re sailing: 2 seniors stay the course with OCC’s seamanship program

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A couple of golden-agers who happen to share a common interest are just fine with the idea of repeating the same sailing class every Sunday in Newport Harbor offered through the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship.

Huntington Beach resident Art Adair, 77, who retired after enjoying a career in education, has been taking the Lido 14 sailing class for nine years. Fellow classmate Rick MacMahon, 75, a psychotherapist from Orange, is in his third year.

“Art and I are unusual taking the same class over and over,” said MacMahon. “Most people either go on to bigger boats or they don’t come back. But I keep registering for back-to-back sessions.”

Both men prefer sailing one day a week, even if it means occasionally signing up for a different day in order to keep sailing.

According to the school’s sailing program coordinator, Mette Segerblom, the school offers easy and affordable access to sailing, power boating and seamanship education for ages 7 and older.

“We’re public access, you don’t have to be a member and you don’t have to bring any equipment but yourself,” said Segerblom.

That easy access is what draws Adair to the program.

“The key reason for me to go there is I don’t have a place to store a boat and there’s not a decent place to launch a sailboat unless you belong to a yacht club,” Adair said. “I don’t have to pay for maintenance, license, insurance, dock fees.”

MacMahon concurred, adding, ”You just go to a place and you’re able to start sailing.”

The two seniors also agree sailing brings them a host of benefits.

Adair, who enjoys being in the outdoors, even at home, said when he sails he especially savors the peace and quiet of the activity.

“Another reason for sailing is it keeps me limber, keeps me going, keeps my muscles in tone and in good shape, and depending how windy it is it keeps you moving and working pretty hard. I look forward to the unknown and challenge of small boat sailing.

“I like to sail with other people either in the boat or sometimes just in the class,” continued Adair, who also helps out as a tutor to instructor Deb Robinson. “It ends up like a small family, the social aspect is a major part of that.”

MacMahon said sailing brings him joy and has enriched his life. “It’s exhilarating, it’s fun,” he said. “When the wind is good it’s very exciting to be zipping along having the wind carrying you along at a nice clip.

“I’m a psychotherapist and I talk to people about the importance of community and this class is a community of sailors,” said MacMahon. “There’s a common interest, a familiarity about going to the same place, seeing others there, there’s a comfort in that.”

Greg Wisener, manager of the OCC Waterfront Campus, said the program engenders a common love of getting out on the water in a boat.

“Many people just assume it’s beyond their ability to get on the water and we’re here to provide that for them,” Wisener said. “As a college, what we want is to reach out to underserved communities and give them a place to extend community to here. Once they get on the water together it’s a leveling force, a shared experience and everyone is out of their element.”

When a group of people are suddenly immersed in the maritime world a type of kinship forms, he noted.

“It’s easier to connect socially when they are all in the same boat,” Wisener quipped.

Open seven days a week, the OCC Waterfront Campus School of Sailing and Seamanship,located at 1801 W. Coast Highway, is among the largest public boating education programs in the nation, offering around 700 classes a year.

The school operates three dozen boats, including dinghies, keelboats, cruising boats, offshore racers and powerboats, and has an extensive nautical library.

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Sicily yacht sinking: Who are the missing and rescued?

A search operation is continuing off the coast of Sicily after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank during freak weather early on Monday morning.

Fifteen of the 22 people who were on board were rescued from the boat.

Seven people went missing - and of them, six of their bodies had been recovered by Thursday. Divers are continuing to search for the last person.

British businessman Mike Lynch was among those whose bodies were found, a source close to the family told the BBC, as was Recaldo Thomas - the yacht's chef.

Recaldo Thomas, chef

The body of a man recovered near the Bayesian yacht on Monday was swiftly reported to be that of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat.

His friends have been paying tribute to him. Gareth Williams, who lives in Antigua, knew Thomas for 30 years.

"I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit," he told the BBC.

The two grew up together in Antigua, where Thomas spent his time during off-season.

"He would come over to mine over the weekend and he would sing. He had the deepest, most sultry voice in the world, and a smile that lit up the room.

"He told me just the other day that he needed to work two more seasons to fix up his late parents' house. He loved yachting, but he was tired."

Mike Lynch, UK tech entrepreneur

While five more bodies have now been recovered from the vessel, just one - Mr Lynch's - has so far been identified.

Mr Lynch was a tech entrepreneur, once regarded by some as “Britain’s Bill Gates”.

Raised in Essex, he went on to study at the University of Cambridge, before co-founding software company Autonomy in 1996.

The 59-year-old made his riches by selling the company to US tech giant Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for $11bn (£8.6bn).

Mr Lynch became embroiled in a decade-long legal battle following the acquisition. He was acquitted in the US in June on multiple fraud charges, over which he had been facing two decades in jail.

Several people on the boat were involved in his recent trial and there have been reports that the yacht trip was a celebration of Mr Lynch’s acquittal.

Andrew Kanter, a close friend and colleague of Mr Lynch, remembered him as "the most brilliant mind and caring person I have ever known".

Who is British tech tycoon Mike Lynch?

Who is missing.

The bodies of four others have been brought to shore but their identities have not yet been confirmed.

Divers are also still looking for another person.

Hannah Lynch, student

Mr Lynch was travelling with his daughter Hannah. A source close to the family told the BBC on Thursday that she was the person still missing.

The 18-year-old is reportedly the younger of Mr Lynch's two daughters.

She had just completed her A-levels and secured a place to read English at Oxford University, according to the Times .

Chris Morvillo, lawyer

Chris Morvillo is a lawyer who represented Mr Lynch in his US trial. Since 2011, he has been a partner at the Clifford Chance law firm in New York.

His biography on the firm’s website says that he served as assistant attorney for the southern district of New York from 1999 to 2005.

During his tenure, he worked on the criminal investigation surrounding the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Neda Morvillo, jewellery designer

American jewellery designer Neda Morvillo, wife of Mr Morvillo, is also unaccounted for.

Mr Morvillo's employer, Clifford Chance, confirmed the news.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the law firm said: "We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident."

Ms Morvillo designs jewellery under the name Neda Nassiri. Her website says she "has been designing and hand-crafting fine jewelry in New York City for over 20 years".

Jonathan Bloomer, banker

Jonathan Bloomer is the chairman of the Morgan Stanley International bank and insurance company Hiscox.

The 70-year-old Briton was educated at Imperial College London and has previously served on a number of company boards.

Mr Bloomer appeared at trial as a defence witness for Mr Lynch, according to the the Financial Times. Media reports suggest the pair are close friends.

Mr Bloomer's twin brother, Jeremy, told the BBC he felt numb and his family were "coping the best we can" as rescue workers continued to search for his sibling.

“He was my elder by half an hour, so, it means a lot when you lose a twin brother. We’ll still wait and see, so it’s fingers crossed," he said.

He added: “It’s a slow process, and it will take time. There might be air pockets but we don’t know.”

Aki Hussain, group chief executive of Hiscox, which Mr Bloomer has chaired since 2023, said: "We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing.”

Family await news of man on sunken luxury yacht

Judy bloomer, charity trustee and supporter.

Judy, the wife of Jonathan Bloomer, is also among those unaccounted for.

Ms Bloomer is listed as a former director of property developer Change Real Estate along with her husband.

She has been called a "brilliant champion for women's health" by a charity she has worked closely with.

Ms Bloomer has been a trustee and supporter of gynaecological cancer research charity the Eve Appeal for more than 20 years.

The charity's chief executive, Athena Lamnisos, said she was "deeply shocked to hear the news that our very dear friend and her husband Jonathan, are among those missing".

"Our thoughts are with Judy and Jonathan’s family, as well as all those who are still waiting for news after this tragic event," she added in a statement.

• Follow live updates here
• 'For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea' - yacht survivor

How sinking of luxury yacht off Sicily unfolded

• What might have caused yacht to sink
• Divers battle 10-minute dive window and debris in yacht search

Who has been rescued?

Among the 15 people who were rescued are nine members of the yacht's crew.

This means every member of the crew is accounted for minus the chef, who local authorities say has died.

Eight of the 15 who were rescued have been taken to hospital.

Dr Fabio Genco, who was part of the local emergency medical service that treated the survivors, said all of them had been discharged from hospital by Tuesday.

A British mother, named locally as Charlotte Golunski, was travelling on the yacht with her partner and baby girl. All three were rescued from the boat.

In an interview, she described holding her infant daughter above the surface of the sea to save her from drowning.

Ms Golunski is a partner at Mr Lynch’s company, Invoke Capital, where she has worked since 2012, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The Times has reported that she has previously worked for Autonomy, the company at the centre of Mr Lynch's recent court case.

Another lawyer, Ayla Ronald, was also rescued along with her partner.

The New Zealand national works for Clifford Chance, where Mr Morvillo is a partner, and was part of Mr Lynch's legal team for his June trial.

Her father told the Telegraph that she was "invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case".

Angela Bacares, Mr Lynch's wife and Hannah Lynch's mother, is also among those who have been rescued.

On Monday, Ms Bacares was using a wheelchair after suffering ­abrasions on her feet, according to the newspaper La Repubblica.

'For two seconds I lost my baby in the sea' - Sicily yacht survivor

Missing tycoon's co-defendant fatally struck by car.

Sports | Husband-wife team sail J/22 Committed to…

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Sports | Husband-wife team sail J/22 Committed to victory in the 18th annual CRAB Cup

First and foremost, local sailors are passionate about supporting Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating, the nonprofit organization that provides therapeutic programming for various members of the community.

Competitors also enjoy the pursuit format, which is a nice change of pace from the usual round-the-buoys or point-to-point distance racing.

Factor in a raucous awards party at Eastport Yacht Club that has become legendary and what’s not to like.

The 18th annual CRAB Cup was held Aug. 17, attracting 102 boats in 19 classes. The tremendous turnout resulted in record fundraising with Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating raising more than $250,000 through the efforts of the accompanying Skipper’s Challenge peer-to-peer campaign, event ticket sales, boat registrations, donations and 41 sponsors.

This annual August regatta is the single-largest fundraiser for CRAB and is essential to supporting its mission of providing therapeutic boating experiences for persons with disabilities, recovering warriors and underserved youngsters.

Meanwhile, it was a spectacular day on the water with 12 to 18 knot southerly winds delivering exciting racing. Warren and Tracey Richter mastered the course and conditions in sailing their J/22 Committed to overall victory in the pursuit race, which featured 15 of the participating classes.

“We love supporting CRAB and wanted to do well out of respect for all of the generous sponsors,” Warren Richter said. “Most of our success starts the day before — checking the weather, reading the sailing instructions, getting our sails and equipment ready to go. Once we got to the race course it was just like any day of racing, focusing on our boat and our race.”

What makes the CRAB Cup unique is that Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating’s six Beneteau First 22A adaptive sailboats form one class with disabled skippers competing on equal terms with the rest of the fleet.

Club Mac, campaigned by a team of former Naval Academy intercollegiate All-American sailors led by Tim McGee, was the top finisher among the CRAB entries. However, Justin Disborough was the top disabled helmsman, steering Lainie to a runner-up result with CRAB volunteers aboard as crew.

In the pursuit format, boats start based on handicap from slowest to fastest. The Beneteau First 22A sloops started first, while Committed was part of the PHRF C class filled with boats that crossed the line about 12 minutes later.

On-water support was provided by Eastport Yacht Club with the principal race officer sending the fleet on the 7.5-mile course. Boats started off R2 in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay then sailed a jib reach toward the Eastern Shore to round G87. From there it was a tight reach or beat to Green can SR located just east of Thomas Point Lighthouse.

Leg 3 was a downwind run to a drop mark located approximately 200 yards from R2 followed by a short tight beam reach to the finish line at R2.

Committed passed the lead group of Beneteau First 22A boats during the second leg just before rounding the mark near Thomas Point. A trio of J/105 one-designs were trying to chase down the J/22 and it briefly appeared they had enough runway to do so.

“In the top third of the run I was a little concerned the bigger boats would run us down, but as we got closer to the final mark rounding I realized our lead was safe,” Richter said.

Committed wound up finishing two minutes and 19 seconds ahead of Relentless, a J/105 skippered by David McKee. Mayhem (Doug Stryker) was 10 seconds behind in third with Santas Reign Dear (Donald Santa) placing fourth.

“On the long second leg we started off jib reaching, but then we put the bow up and went full upwind. We sailed higher than the competition and were able to ride over the top of the leading boats,” Richter said. “A lot of our success was due to just sailing the least amount of distance around the course. On the long run to the drop mark we were able to square back and sail down the rhumb line.”

The Richters sail the J/22 doublehanded with Warren steering and trimming the main and Tracey trimming the headsails and working the bow. They actively participate in the Triple Crown of Charity Sailing competition and finished seventh in fundraising for the CRAB Cup at $3,500.

Disborough and his team aboard Lainie were really hauling the mail on the opening leg and were heeled way over despite having a reef in the main. They led the Beneteau First 22A class and the entire fleet for the better part of two legs before getting passed.

“Unfortunately, we had to turn to wind to shake out the reef heading downwind, which caused us to forfeit first place,” said Disborough, an Annapolis resident.

Vice Admiral Yvette Davids, the Naval Academy superintendent, was honorary chairman of the CRAB Cup. Davids, who was a member of the Navy intercollegiate dinghy team, reaffirmed the academy’s partnership with CRAB for the upcoming Recovering Warrior Regatta on Sept. 28. Members of the Navy varsity offshore sailing team crew for the recovering warriors.

“I am very familiar with CRAB and have followed the growth and development of this wonderful organization throughout my career,” Davids said. “I am thrilled to be back in Annapolis and to have the opportunity to work with CRAB, supporting recovering warriors and providing our Navy’s future leaders with the chance to learn from those who have made great sacrifices.”

CRAB Cup (102 boats)

1. Committed, J/22, Warren & Tracey Richter, 1 hour, 34 minutes, 29 seconds; 2. Relentless, J/105, David McKee, 1:36:48; 3. Mayhem, J/105, Doug Stryker, 1:36:58; 4. Santas Reign Dear, Donald Santa, 1:37:13; 5. Valhalla 3.0, J/30, Valhalla Sailing, 1:37:37

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Home / School, courses also ONLINE / Russia

Sailing schools and courses (ISSA, RYA, IYT) in Russia

The possibilities for yachting in russia are unlimited, since this is a country with a long maritime history. you just need to choose where you want to sail. small and big lakes, full-flowing rivers, warm and cold seas — all this is available to those who want to try sailing in this country..

Practical yachting

You will be able to master the skills of sailing; learn to feel the boat, approach and leave the pier, learn about the safety measures on the water and much more.

There are places in 1 team

International Bareboat Skipper (IYT) Course

Having received the International Bareboat Skipper Certificate, you can independently charter a yacht on a charter and operate it in the waters of any country.

More details

ISSA Offshore Skipper course

The certificated confirms the skills sufficient to sail the yacht in light and dark hours at a distance from a sheltered port up to 100 sea miles.

IYT International Crew course

This is a certificate of excellence for those candidates who wish to train to become an active crew member on a power or sailing yacht. It includes Introduction to Boating for power and sail yachts.

IYT Introductory Sailing Skills course

This course is great for groups of friends or like-minded people to get together for a few days of fun sailing while learning skills to better help as crew onboard.

IYT Try Sailing Course

It’s a fun hands-on course to enjoy being on the water while learning basic sailing skills.

Yacht management training in the Moscow region

In three hours of training, you will learn the basic techniques of managing a yacht, learn some of the specifics of working with a yacht, a helm, sails.

RYA Coastal Skipper course

Advanced skippering techniques for yachtsmen with considerable knowledge of sailing and navigation, wanting to undertake coastal passages by day and night.

RYA Competent Crew course

This course is for beginners and those who would like to become active crew members rather than just passengers.

RYA Day Skipper course

A course for aspiring skippers with some yachting experience and basic navigation and sailing skills.

RYA Start Yachting course

A short introduction to sailing for complete beginners.

An annual calendar of racing is in place for the J Class fleet which sees the fleet compete at premier regatta's throughout the year.

The Superyacht Cup Palma

The Superyacht Cup Palma, established in 1996, is Europe's longest running superyacht regatta. The annual event attracts some of the world’s largest and most prestigious sailing yachts to the beautiful island of Mallorca for a spectacular festival of sailing.The Superyacht Cup combines professionally managed yacht racing in reliable sea breeze conditions on the Bay with a relaxed and fun atmosphere ashore in the heart of historic Palma, the home of Mediterranean superyachting.

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Sailing Energy

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The Costa Smeralda provides a stunning setting and a variety of challenging conditions for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, one of the highlights of the Mediterranean yachting season. The first Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup (known then as the Maxi World championship) was held in Sardinia in 1980. The brainchild of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and its president, the Aga Khan, the regatta is now an eagerly anticipated annual event attracting a sizeable fleet of majestic maxi yachts to Porto Cervo each September.

Image Credit: Francesco Ferri / Studio Borlenghi

America's Cup J Class Regatta

No history of the America’s Cup is complete without mention of the J Class, the magnificent sloops that competed for the trophy in three editions between 1930 and 1937.

These yachts with their remarkable history both in theAmerica’s Cup and into the modern era are one of the true wonders of the sailing world and will draw much attention when they arrive in Barcelona whilst acting as an integral part of the America’s Cup celebrations.

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Berthon Winter Collection

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August 2024

In the August 2024 issue of Yachting World magazine: News Few finish a tempestuous Round The Island Race European rules are eased for cruising to France and Greece Olympic sailing…

Yachting World

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Inside J Class yacht Svea – what it’s really like to race on board the newest member of the fleet

• Toby Hodges
• June 16, 2017

Toby Hodges sails the newest J Class yacht, Svea, and finds an elegant J crossed with a modern maxi grand prix yacht. Photos by Carlo Borlenghi

Svea , the newest addition to the now nine-strong J Class fleet, is one of the most outstanding new yachts of modern times – a harmonious meeting of historic and modern design; a blend of J Class lines and maxi grand prix yacht technology.

What follows will hopefully explain why she is the ultimate modern J; why her design and engineering had to be fast-tracked yet still produced such formidable results, and, crucially, why the other six Js and their 200 professional crewmembers racing in Bermuda this June were right to be worried about their new competition.

Svea ’s build programme has been unrelenting since her American owner bought the bare aluminium hull two years ago. A serial yacht owner and experienced racer, his sights were firmly set on the J Class regatta in Bermuda.

This is the biggest year for the J Class since they raced for the America’s Cup in the 1930s .

The first time six Js raced together was in St Barth in March , but when Svea joins the fleet in Bermuda, it will be the first time seven have lined up. But for that to happen Svea had to take shape fast.

It was just 17 months from signing the contract to her delivery – a race-ready superyacht prepared to sail across the Atlantic to her first race, just as the original Js were designed to do.

Svea arrived in Palma in March to start sea trials and race training. I was invited aboard in late April for what turned out to be the last day of race training – and a day I shall never forget.

1930s lines, modern layout

All Js dazzle on the water, but Svea simply stops you in your tracks. Her lines and deck are kept spectacularly clean, thanks to the compact wheelhouse, sunken wheel and wonderfully low boom.

Her dark metallic grey hull and black and red sail wardrobe lend her timeless lines a slightly menacing appearance – a purposeful racing look that belies the luxurious interior below decks. The aggressive aesthetics are in keeping with her name, a Viking word (it means Swede).

The lines for Svea are from a Tore Holm design from 1937, the last J drawn but one that was never built. Holm was one of the most gifted Metre Class designers.

Andre Hoek reworked the design to make it competitive for modern day racing. This is his third J project in recent years following Lionheart and Topaz .

Continues below…

Brand new J S1 Svea stars in a record J Class racing fleet at America’s Cup

We expected her to be fast, but would the new J Class Svea be competitive too? It is a tall…

Svea rules the day and Lionheart wins the J Class Superyacht Regatta in Bermuda

If Svea’s third place in her first race yesterday was impressive for the debutante J Class member, her victory over…

Even compared to these ‘Super Js’, Svea is big. She is, by 15cm, the longest J overall at 43.6m /143.1ft LOA.

Think of classic J Class pictures from the 1930s and you picture a helmsman in a blazer and tie standing high on the aft deck battling a traditional wooden wheel. One of Svea ’s striking features is her extra large wheel, nearly half of which vanishes into a well below decks.

Hoek encouraged the extra wide, sunken wheel, a feature that Frers favoured in the 1980s because it allowed the helmsman to sit out and see the telltales. Here it allows the helmsman, trimmers and afterguard to remain in close communication.

Svea ’s deck layout is optimised for modern racing thanks to a large cockpit directly in front of the wheel from which the main, genoa and running backstays are all controlled. This means crew dealing with the runners and their fearsome loads are not on the aft deck and can safely operate the winches from a standing position.

The cockpit also doubles as a guest area when the yacht is in cruise mode, and there is removable seating and table.

I observed the action from the aft deck, in the company of Andre Hoek and the owner’s representatives and project managers Tako van Ineveld and Katie Beringer from Ineveld & Co. With its long overhangs a J’s ends are prone to pitching and as they are raced with no guardrails you need to be vigilant when the yacht is heeling.

Maxi grand-prix set-up with walnut interior

“Be careful on deck – we’re running big loads – up to 36 tonnes on the forestay,” Svea ’s captain Paul ‘PK’ Kelly told us as we left Palma’s STP shipyard. That’s the weight of a 60ft cruising yacht, I thought!

“It’s a maxi grand prix set-up in every detail,” said Tako van Ineveld. “We will race it as a grand prix boat. The owner loves that, but he also loves his walnut interior.”

And that, I thought, in a nutshell, is what today’s J Class yacht is all about.

When I joined, the 24-strong race crew and six permanent crewmembers had been practising multiple pre-starts and two or three windward-leeward races a day. Granted, they had no competition, but I soon appreciated how getting the timing for the manoeuvres down and, crucially, knowing exactly how long each will take, is invaluable preparation.

As in a regatta, it takes a couple of hours between the time a J leaves the dock to the point at which it is fully prepared for the start. But when we were, and fully heeled over in full trim, sailing at 9.5 knots upwind in 9-9.5 TWS, the feeling was euphoric.

Svea ’s immense black North 3Di RAW mainsail was allowed a little body to match the lighter conditions that morning. The sails are obviously big business on Js and Tom Whidden, North Sails’s CEO, was aboard for the day assisting the afterguard.

Furling headsails are a new addition this year for some of the newer Js. A crewmember needs to go aloft to attach the lashing to the head during the hoist, so it takes longer to swap headsails, but the advantage is a marked improvement in sail handling time.

The decision was taken early during Svea ’s build to incorporate furling headsails, for which a Reckmann torque tube is installed on deck. “It’s a big help not having to drag headsails out of the water,” van Ineveld remarked.

A glance aloft shows a particularly aggressive Southern Spars rig design. Every bit of weight and windage was minimised, with no staysail halyard and only a single VHF aerial permitted from the mast top for example.

The Southern Spars boom is tapered at each end and the spinnaker pole is a novel triangular shape – which is promised to be lighter than an equivalent tube, if more vulnerable to impact.

During a couple of the upwind legs I sat forward of the wheelhouse, watching the choreography of the pit and foredeck. While the main and trimmers may be in better contact with the afterguard in their aft cockpit setup, it’s still a separate camp up here.

The wide, shallow pit serves a useful area to tidy the vast amount of tail ends for spinnaker sheets, inhaulers, barbers, etc and for storing sails or snaking the spinnaker when zipping it up.

When the wind died down to 8 knots there was talk of whether to lead the sheets for inside gybing on the downwind leg. It’s amazing to think that a 950sq m kite can be gybed inside these days, but it’s a call that needs to be made relatively early as it involves changing the tack strop and sheet leads.

It’s almost impossible to take in the flurry of activity that two thirds of the crew are involved with around the mast and foredeck during a hoist – that was governed by Team New Zealand veteran sailor Andrew ‘Meat’ Taylor, a crew boss whose physical presence immediately ensures respect.

The spectacular bright red kite went fizzing up and ballooned into life, filling out a symbol depicting an ancient Nordic compass rose.

When the wind increased to 12 knots for the second practice race that afternoon, everything felt a little more intense on board. The headstay load pin readout was up to 30 tonnes. There was more water coming over the deck, the stiff carbon sails snapped into place with a bang, when the runner was eased, the blocks sounded like a shotgun going off, shuddering a vibration through the aluminium deck.

We were making up to 10.2 knots upwind now. Francesco de Angelis, the ex- Luna Rossa skipper hired as owner’s coach, calmly steered sitting to windward, alongside the likes of Peter Isler navigating and the owner’s long-standing tactician and fleet manager Charlie Ogletree (an Olympic Tornado sailor).

We crossed the line within a second of the gun and Svea stepped out into her full graceful stride on another long leg.

As we rounded the top mark into the short reaching leg a late call is made for an ‘Indian’ – or gybe-set. It’s a test designed to time the crew response.

We gybed and the kite was hoisted in little more than a boatlength – I counted five seconds. There is a nod of approval from Tom Whidden, who comments: “That’ll allow you to go either way round the top mark – a pretty nice exit manoeuvre to have, especially if you’re in a train.”

I was astonished at the speed of the gybes. The boom is sheeted to two winches, both capable of spitting line out at 220m per minute. So even with the boom fully out when sailing downwind, it is centred in a couple of seconds.

The speed of the manoeuvres, especially after only three weeks’ training, was seriously impressive. I later learned that this was their best training day. Even so, it was remarkably quiet and well drilled.

Van Ineveld told me the crew was very pleased with how reliable all the systems have been, especially the hydraulics. He pointed out that Js have habitually suffered from hydraulic power failure, which is why they put the Power Take Off (PTO) on the main engine. “So far we’ve had no lack of hydraulic power and we’re only running at 70 per cent”.

The hydraulic pressure for Js is normally 220bar, but Svea has larger diameter pipes allowing more flow at 300bar. “ Svea comes out of the box where others want to be,” says van Ineveld. “It’s where all the recent work to Lionheart and Hanuman has led – it’s the advantage of starting from scratch.”

Sailing Svea – the newest member of a revered class

During our final upwind leg, something happened that has changed my appreciation of sailing a J forever. Ogletree beckoned me to the wheel, mocking de Angelis by telling the elite helmsman: “You’re fired.”

My heart rate rocketed. I told myself to focus – I would only get a few taster seconds of the owner’s experience on the wheel. Sailing a J in race mode with race crew? More people have been to the moon.

But that ‘time’s up’ pat on the shoulder never came. The gargantuan wheel was entrusted to me for the rest of the upwind leg, the mark roundings, the spinnaker hoist and the downwind gybes all the way to the finish.

Focus, Toby! I asked de Angelis what sort of numbers we should be doing. “Just sail it to the telltales” was his refreshing answer – although in fact the genoa is professionally trimmed before I could even correct the wheel. The subsequent “9.8 knots target speed at 45º…” certainly helped.

Standing to leeward I was struck by the force of the wind slot between the sails and how hard it becomes to hear anything. As we tacked I bent for support to hand-over-hand the 8ft diameter carbon and teak wheel. Svea was back up to full speed. “You got the mark?” Ogletree asked. I nodded. “Over to you.”

Panic. Keep calm and don’t hit the buoy. I was aware of a flurry of activity on a foredeck far, far away. It helped make me appreciate just how focused the crew have to be on their role during a race. You have to be able to trust that everyone’s on it – I found it almost impossible to concentrate on anything other than pointing the boat from behind the wheel.

Turn the wheel and it’s still some moments (and distance) before the boat responds. It shows the value of anticipation.

We powered through a reach and bore away into a spinnaker set, at which point I went into a giddy trance, trying to mentally distill the moment while gybing Svea downwind. To drive the latest, most high-tech yacht in the most revered class in the world, with a full complement of rock stars and one of the world’s foremost sailors alongside coaching me through it… no, superlatives will never suffice.

“Well done everyone, that was a great day today,” said Ogletree in the debrief back on the dock, as my pulse began to settle. “The best we’ve sailed the boat and the best it’s gone.”

No room for delay

Svea ’s deck is kept wonderfully clean. The original lines didn’t even have a deckhouse, something the class insisted upon, says Hoek, but Svea ’s is kept low.

The furler and tensioner for the inner forestay are hidden under the deck. The anchor arm (removed for racing) rotates out of a locker and extends over the port bows. The chainplates with integrated turnbuckles are underdeck leaving just the ECsix rigging exposed.

It was eye-opening to see just how well Svea is finished below, particularly after visiting her in build at Vitters in December – at which time no cabin had yet been completed. Austrian company List pre-fabricated the interior entirely off site – a feat of 3D modelling and engineering.

The late Pieter Beeldsnijder (who worked on Athena , Hyperion , Hanuman , and Ethereal ) designed an elegant interior that is timelessly finished by Michiel de Vos.

Raised and fielded panels are used together with both decorative and practical features such as curved handrails built into panels. These reflect the owner’s taste for millwork carpentry. His preference for an open grain to the Claro walnut helped produce a tactile finish.

The intricate design details and the complex build skills required are particularly impressive when you consider the time frame in which Svea was completed. Normally an interior is built in parallel with the hull, but in this case it was built and fitted during the 14-month Vitters yard period.

“There was no room for delays with the race programme for Bermuda,” said Tako van Ineveld.

A traditional skylight floods the saloon in natural light. A sliding hatch in the bulkhead between the saloon and the galley further forward helps open out this space and allows the owner to incorporate the compact galley into his living space. It’s a clever arrangement that also keeps the teak-finished crew area forward private.

The layout elsewhere is traditional for a J, with guest en-suite cabins (twin and double) each side of the companionway and the master stateroom aft. The saloon and cabins lacked a personal touch during our visit – the bulkheads were still bare – however 16 marquetry pieces inspired by classic Beken pictures were imminently due to be hung.

Beeldsnijder succeeded in pushing accommodation space to the maximum inside. This is evident in the aft cabin, where the longitudinal frames rise up towards the transom through the berth and sofas. The low wheelhouse squeezes the accommodation in the passageway aft, but this has been cleverly sculpted out at shoulder height.

The engine room, accessed from the passageway opposite the compact navstation or via the saloon sole, is particularly well laid out offering easy access to all the systems.

One to watch

The flurry of new Js and competitive regattas in the last decade has brought with it a chase to upgrade to the latest equipment. This is particularly the case with Hanuman and Lionheart . Svea , however, is today’s true answer to a race-ready J class.

“What an accomplishment it will be to make the start line at Bermuda, a year after going into Vitters,” said captain Paul Kelly. When I left, I was bowled over by this yacht, build and crew work and results so far have been very encouraging .

I am also now that bit closer to understanding the charms of the mercurial J from an owner’s point of view. To buy and helm a J Class yacht in a competitive race is the ultimate money-can-buy experience in sailing – and, arguably, in any sport.

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Lynch Yacht Sinking Off Sicily Proves as Baffling as It Is Tragic

As bodies were recovered, the authorities and experts wondered how a $40 million, stable and secure vessel could have sunk so quickly.

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By Emma Bubola and Michael J. de la Merced

Emma Bubola reported from Porticello, Italy, and Michael J. de la Merced from London.

Two months after being cleared in a bruising legal battle over fraud charges, the British tech mogul Mike Lynch celebrated his freedom with a cruise. He invited his family, friends and part of his legal team on board his luxury sailing yacht, a majestic 180-foot vessel named Bayesian after the mathematical theorem around which he had built his empire.

On Sunday night, after a tour of the Gulf of Naples, including Capri, and volcanic islands in the Eolian archipelago, the boat anchored half a mile off the Sicilian coast in Porticello, Italy. It chose a stretch of water favored by the Phoenicians thousands of years ago for its protection from the mistral wind and, in more recent times, by the yachts of tech billionaires. The boat was lit “like a Christmas tree,” local residents said, standing out against the full moon.

But about 4 a.m., calamity unfolded. A violent and fast storm hit the area with some of the strongest winds locals said they had ever felt. Fabio Cefalù, a fisherman, said he saw a flare pierce the darkness shortly after 4.

Minutes later, the yacht was underwater. Only dozens of cushions from the boat’s deck and a gigantic radar from its mast floated on the surface of the sea, fishermen said.

In all, 22 people were on board, 15 of whom were rescued. Six bodies — five passengers and the ship’s cook — had been recovered by Thursday afternoon, including that of Mr. Lynch, an Italian government official said, adding that the search was continuing for his daughter.

It was a tragic and mystifying turn of events for Mr. Lynch, 59, who had spent years seeking to clear his name and was finally inaugurating a new chapter in his life. Experts wondered how a $40 million yacht, so robust and stable could have been sunk by a storm near a port within minutes.

“It drives me insane,” said Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought the company, Perini, that made the Bayesian. “Following all the proper procedures, that boat is unsinkable.”

The aura of misfortune only deepened when it emerged that Stephen Chamberlain, 52, a former vice president of finance for Mr. Lynch’s former company and a co-defendant in the fraud case, was killed two days earlier, when he was hit by a car while jogging near his house in England.

Since June, the two men had been in a jubilant mood. A jury in San Francisco had acquitted both on fraud charges that could have sent them to prison for two decades. There were hugs and tears, and they and their legal teams went for a celebratory dinner party at a restaurant in the city, said Gary S. Lincenberg, a lawyer for Mr. Chamberlain.

The sea excursion was meant as a thank-you by Mr. Lynch to those who had helped him in his legal travails. Among the guests was Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, a scion of a prominent New York family of lawyers who had represented Mr. Lynch for 12 years. He and his wife, Neda, 57, were among the missing.

So, too, was Jonathan Bloomer, 70, a veteran British insurance executive who chaired Morgan Stanley International and the insurer Hiscox.

The body of the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered. All the other crew members survived. Among them was Leo Eppel, 19, of South Africa, who was on his first yacht voyage working as a deck steward, said a friend, who asked not to be identified.

Since the sinking, the recovery effort and investigation have turned the tiny port town of Porticello, a quiet enclave where older men sit bare-chested on balconies, into what feels like the set of a movie.

Helicopters have flown overhead. Ambulances have sped by with the sirens blaring. The Coast Guard has patrolled the waters off shore, within sight of a cordoned-off dock that had been turned into an emergency headquarters.

On Wednesday afternoon, a church bell tolled after the first body bag was loaded into an ambulance, a crowd watching in silence.

The survivors were sheltering in a sprawling resort near Porticello, with a view of the shipwreck spot, and had so far declined to comment.

Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said that the yacht had most likely been hit by a fierce “down burst” — when air generated within a thunderstorm descends rapidly — or by a waterspout , similar to a tornado over water.

He added that his agency had put out rough-sea warnings the previous evening, alerting sailors about storms and strong winds. Locals said the winds “felt like an earthquake.”

Mr. Costantino, the boat executive, said the yacht had been specifically designed for having a tall mast — the second-tallest aluminum mast in the world. He said the Bayesian was an extremely safe and secure boat that could list even to 75 degrees without capsizing.

But he said that if some of the hatches on the side and in the stern, or some of the deck doors, had been open, the boat could have taken on water and sunk. Standard procedure in such storms, he said, is to switch on the engine, lift the anchor and turn the boat into the wind, lowering the keel for extra stability, closing doors and gathering the guests in the main hall inside the deck.

12 guests occupied the yacht’s six cabins. There were also 10 crew members.

Open hatches, doors and cabin windows could have let in water during a storm, according to the manufacturer.

Open hatches, doors and

cabin windows could

have let in water

during a storm,

according to the

manufacturer.

Source: Superyacht Times, YachtCharterFleet, MarineTraffic

By Veronica Penney

The New York Times attempted to reach the captain, James Cutfield, who had survived, for comment through social media, his brother and the management company of the yacht (which did not hire the crew), but did not make contact.

So far none of the surviving crew members have made a public statement about what happened that night.

Fabio Genco, the director of Palermo’s emergency services, who treated some of the survivors, said that the victims had recounted feeling as if the boat was being lifted, then suddenly dropped, with objects from the cabins falling on them.

The Italian Coast Guard said it had deployed a remotely operated vehicle that can prowl underwater for up to seven hours at a depth of more than 980 feet and record videos and images that they hoped would help them reconstruct the dynamics of the sinking. Such devices were used during the search and rescue operations of the Titan vessel that is believed to have imploded last summer near the wreckage of the Titanic.

After rescuers broke inside the yacht, they struggled to navigate the ropes and many pieces of furniture cluttering the vessel, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for Italy’s national firefighter corps.

Finally, as of Thursday morning, they had managed to retrieve all but one of the missing bodies, and hopes of finding the missing person alive were thin. “Can a human being be underwater for two days?” Mr. Cari asked.

What was certain was that Mr. Lynch’s death was yet another cruel twist of fate for a man who had spent years seeking to clear his name.

He earned a fortune in technology and was nicknamed Britain’s Bill Gates. But for more than a decade, he had been treated as anything but a respected tech leader.

He was accused by Hewlett-Packard, the American technological pioneer that had bought his software company, Autonomy, for $11 billion, of misleading it about his company’s worth. (Hewlett-Packard wrote down the value of the transaction by about $8.8 billion, and critics called it one of the worst deals of all time .) He had been increasingly shunned by the British establishment that he sought to break into after growing up working-class outside London.

He was extradited to San Francisco to face criminal charges, and confined to house arrest and 24-hour surveillance on his dime. In a townhouse in the Pacific Heights neighborhood — with security people he jokingly told associates were his “roommates” — he spent his mornings talking with researchers whom he funded personally on new applications for artificial intelligence. Afterward, he devoted hours to discussing legal strategy with his team.

Despite his persistent claims of innocence, even those close to Mr. Lynch had believed his odds of victory were slim. Autonomy’s chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was convicted in 2018 of similar fraud charges and spent five years in prison.

During Mr. Lynch’s house arrest, his brother and mother died. His wife, Angela Bacares, frequently flew over from England, and she became a constant presence in the San Francisco courtroom during the trial.

After he was finally acquitted, Mr. Lynch had his eye on the future. “I am looking forward to returning to the U.K. and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” he said.

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Pallanza, Italy.

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome. More about Emma Bubola

Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006. More about Michael J. de la Merced